Israeli forces have recovered the body of a hostage held in Gaza, the military said Wednesday, adding that it was identifying additional remains that could belong to another captive. The recovery of Yosef AlZayadni, 53, from an underground tunnel comes as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on , killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. A third of the are believed to be dead.
Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including three infants — among them a 1-week-old — and two women. Israel’s military says it only targets militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians.
Israel’s air and ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza has , according to the Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says women and children make up over half the fatalities. The military says it killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
And in Yemen, against underground arms facilities of the Houthi rebels. The Iran-backed Houthis have targeted shipping for more than a year and recently ramped up missile attacks on Israel, saying they seek to force an end to in Gaza.
Here's the latest:
Families of American hostages in Gaza will attend Trump inauguration
NEW YORK — Family members of Americans being held hostage in Gaza are planning to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration later this month.
Representatives for the family members said they plan to meet with officials in the incoming Trump administration and members of Congress to urge them to prioritize the safe return of the hostages.
Seven Americans are among the dozens of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Trump has sent his incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to Qatar this week for additional talks to work on their release. The Republican president-elect has threatened Hamas by warning that “All hell will break out†if the hostages aren't released.
US officials say a decision on lifting Syrian rebel sanctions will be up to Trump
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is expected to defer to the incoming Trump administration to decide whether to lift sanctions on and its leader, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the outgoing administration’s thinking on the matter.
The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Wednesday that the Biden administration has sought to take a careful approach on HTS, the new de facto authority in Syria after overthrowing President Bashar Assad.
The officials added that lifting a foreign terrorist designation is a cumbersome process and that it’s unlikely that the administration could come to a final decision on the matter with just 12 days to go before Trump takes office.
HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with , met in December with the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, who led the first U.S. diplomatic delegation into Syria since Assad’s ouster.
The U.S. on Monday eased some restrictions on Syria’s transitional government to allow the entry of humanitarian aid. And the Biden administration in December decided for the capture of al-Sharaa.
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By Aamer Madhani
Israeli soldiers briefly detain a French journalist in Syria
BEIRUT — A French journalist was released after the Israeli army detained him on Wednesday in southern Syria.
Sylvain Mercadier, who contributes to the French publication Marianne, was documenting Israeli military activity when he was taken into custody alongside his fixer, according to Marianne.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson, said the journalist had come “too close†to soldiers on a number of occasions and did the same on Wednesday. He said the troops “took him shortly and then released him, understanding he’s not posing a threat.â€
Mercadier said Israeli soldiers beat him while he lay on the ground and hit his colleague, Mohammed al-Fayyad, in the back of his head with a rifle butt.
“We were handcuffed and blindfolded. … We were threatened and humiliated,†he said in a post on X. They were left with cuts and bruises, notably where their wrists were tightly restrained, after more than four hours of what Mercadier called mistreatment.
“We had done nothing but do our work: journalism,†he wrote.
Mercadier said he was reporting near Hamidiye, a village in Quneitra province. , which lies in a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in Syria's Golan Heights.
He said he followed Israeli soldiers' orders to stop filming and allowed them to search his vehicle, but was arrested after he and al-Fayyad protested the soldiers' attempt to confiscate a laptop.
Blinken again says Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal is ‘very close’
PARIS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is again saying that a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is “very close†and he hopes “we can get it over the line†before handing over U.S diplomacy to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
“In area after area, we’re handing off, in some cases, things that we haven’t been able to complete but that create real opportunities to move things forward in a better way,†he said Wednesday on a stop in Paris for meetings.
Blinken said that even if the Biden administration's plans for a ceasefire and hostage deal don’t come to fruition before Trump’s inauguration, he thinks they’ll be put into practice afterward.
“I believe that when we get that deal – and we’ll get that deal – it will be on the basis of the plans that President Biden put before the world,†he said.
Israel’s military says troops have recovered the body of an additional hostage from Gaza.
The body of an Israeli hostage held in Gaza, 53-year-old Yosef AlZayadni, was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza, the military said Wednesday. It said it was examining whether a second body was that of another hostage.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said earlier a second hostage's body had been recovered: AlZayadni’s son Hamzah.
The men were taken captive during Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The return of the body comes as Israel and Hamas are considering a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Israel believes a third of the remaining 100 hostages are dead. However, AlZayadni was believed to still be alive before Wednesday’s announcement.
AlZayadni, who had 19 children, had worked at a dairy in southern Israel’s Kibbutz Holit for 17 years, said the Hostages Family Forum, a group representing the families of captives. AlZayadni was kidnapped with three of his children. His teenage kids, Bilal and Aisha, were released in a weeklong ceasefire deal in November.
The family are members of the , part of Israel’s Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship.
Israeli hostage families group echoes Trump's threat about releasing hostages
TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli group representing some families of hostages held in Gaza displayed an image of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on a huge electronic billboard in Tel Aviv with a reference to his threat if the captives aren't freed before he takes office later this month.
The group behind the billboard, Tikva Forum, has called for Israel to use increased force against Hamas to secure the release of their loved ones.
The billboard shows a photo of moments after his assassination attempt, and threatens in English “the fire of hell will open†if the hostages aren't released.
Many in Israel have been energized by Trump's warning, hoping it could exert more pressure on Israeli and Hamas leaders to reach a deal to free hostages in exchange for a ceasefire in Gaza.
A third of the 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are believed to be dead.
Syria's leader meets with Bahraini diplomatic delegation
DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa received a delegation from Bahrain on Wednesday and met with the Bahraini foreign minister, state media reported.
The visit was the latest in a flurry of diplomatic overtures by Arab countries to Syria’s new leaders after they overthrew former President in a lightning .
Like other Gulf countries, Bahrain had cut off diplomatic ties with Syria under Assad’s rule during the Syrian civil war, but it reopened its embassy in Damascus in 2018 and gradually restored ties with the Assad government.
Bahrain is the current head of the Arab summit, and days after Assad’s ouster it had sent a message to al-Sharaa offering its cooperation with the new authorities and saying, “We look forward to Syria regaining its authentic role in the Arab League.â€
US military carries out airstrikes against Yemen's Houthi rebels
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. military says it carried out a wave of strikes against what it said were underground arms facilities of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that Wednesday’s strikes targeted weapons used by the rebels .
The Houthis said seven strikes targeted sites in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and the northern Amran province, without providing further details. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The United States and its allies have carried out repeated strikes on the Houthis, who have continued to target shipping.
The rebels say they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
Israeli airstrikes kill at least 9 in Gaza, including 4 babies, Palestinian medics say
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in the Gaza Strip, including four infants and two women, Palestinian medics said Wednesday.
One strike hit a home in the central city of Deir al-Balah, killing two men and a woman, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the casualties. It also received a 4-month-old boy who was killed in a strike on his family house in the nearby built-up Bureij refugee camp.
An Associated Press journalist saw the four bodies in the hospital morgue.
In Gaza City, an airstrike hit a home in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a 3-week-old baby, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency service.
Late Wednesday, the bodies of five people and eight wounded arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah. Among the dead were two babies, including a 1-week-old infant, as well as a child and a woman. The other infant's age could not immediately be determined because of how badly they were burned, an AP journalist reported.
Israel’s military says it only targets militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians.
